Quelling the Snake
by Umbra
Summary: A semiAU during Harry's last year at Hogwarts. Pandemonium erupts at Hogwarts and it is up to Harry to choose between letting a mystery go unsolved or paring up with his worst enemy to save Hogwarts. Warning: This story contains slash.


Quelling the Snake

A Harry Potter Fanfiction

By: Umbra

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter series and you would not profit by suing me.

Content: This story contains slash. I.e. homosexual male pairings and yes, eventually sex. If this isn't your cup of tea, then don't splash it back in my face. Find something else to read. It also contains strong language, rape and violence. Also, as the 7th and unfortunately final book in the Harry Potter series has been released, this story naturally takes place in a semi-AU.

Category: Angst/ Romance.

Rating: R.

Chapter One:

The wind was knocked out of him deftly, leaving him gasping for breath. A smile appeared on the other figure, one of desire, of deviousness. The hand that followed showed little remorse, it following carnal instinct rather than thought. It had already carried out wills far more sinister; there was nothing wrong in delving into the forbidden once more. It had beaten and tortured; and rape, to the mind of Lucius was nothing more than the fruits of a thankless labor.

The gasps led to pants, and willingly or not, the other climaxed. The cruelty of existence meant nothing to Draco now; he knew his fate was not one to be enjoyed. What-ifs and wishes of another life, one far away from here, had long been cast to the wind, a wind that only spread the fire that had started. A mind so young should not have been shocked into existence as it had, but as the past was already the past and the present still lingered, there was nothing to be done. The Malfoy estate was closed to all interlopers.

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"Shut up, Malfoy," the reddened youth had retorted. It wasn't anything new, Malfoy's snide remarks, but it still angered him when he couldn't come up with a snappy comeback. Ron quickly stood in for him, challenging the smirking blonde, "Come on Harry, Draco isn't worth it. He's obviously pretty pathetic if he has to try to make OTHERS feel bad about their families. We all know what Malfoys are." Malfoy stood there unphased by the remark; he had had to put up with people putting down his family all of his life. Instead he stood ready with another insult on the tip of his tongue, until Professor McGonagall placed herself between the two groups, Harry and Ron on one side, Draco and his cohorts on the other.

"Boys, boys. Stop swapping insults and move onto something productive. We all know that none of you have finished your reports on 'The Noxious and Beneficial Effects of Scragglewart' yet," she stated plainly, giving each of the boys a sharp glance. After each side showed hesitancy to back down, McGonagall decided to take matters into her own hands. "Shoo now, this isn't any way to start off the new school year. Honestly, as senior members of this school, I was hoping for you to show some maturity. Obviously I was hoping in vain." And with that, she swatted the air in front of her, exemplifying her disapproval and proving that if they didn't leave now, they would all be cleaning the Great Hall with their quills.

Draco let out a huff of disappointment before shrugging and stalking off. Crabbe & Goyle closely followed, despite knowing they would have to listen to Malfoy's litany against meddlesome teachers on the way back to the Slytherin common room.

Harry stood there dumbfounded for a moment before also huffing and kicking at the stonewall to his side. He hated being the joke, especially when it involved his parents. Malfoy always knew that it would make him mad, no matter what. He thought that by the time they were 7th years, Malfoy would have grown up. But he hadn't. Things were just like they were when they were enrolled at Hogwarts: they were rivals. The whole student body knew it and respected the vows of hatred between Malfoy and Potter just the way they respected and didn't question many other facts of the school.

Harry couldn't say that he minded; Malfoy was a spoiled brat that only got under his skin. But he WAS tired of the same old routine, and had thought _maybe_, just maybe he might not need to fight Malfoy in his last year. Malfoy only meant trouble and trouble was not what he needed. He would die of humiliation if he got expelled his last year for something Malfoy had provoked him to do.

Consumed in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed when he almost barreled over Colin Creevy who had started running up to him; going a summer without speaking to the great Harry Potter had almost been the end of him. "Dammit, Collin! What are you doing, trying to get yourself killed?" Harry turned to him, anger dissipating into concern, and offered a hand to sixth year, which provoked an enthusiastic arm to jut out.

"Jeez, Harry, way to make lower-classmen get out of your way," Ron chuckled, just catching up to Harry. He had taken off so fast Ron had to nearly sprint down the hall.

"Thanks, Harry," the youth cheerfully responded. Collin had matured a lot over the years. Granted, other factors had contributed to that, thrusting him as an innocent wide-eyed boy into reality, but he had handled it with more grace than Harry could imagine himself doing. After Colin had stood up and brushed himself off, Harry murmured an apology. He had once again let his anger get a hold of him and Harry knew by now that he shouldn't allow Malfoy to piss him off so badly. "Are you ok?" he asked a bit sluggishly, eyes veering away from Colin, almost shyly so.

"Yeah, just took me by surprise, that's all. For a moment, I thought the school had just been attacked by Dementors again, they way you were running," the boy let out a soft laugh, then noticing the silent youth's frown leaned over to look at Harry's eyes. "What's wrong, Harry- something already bothering you on the first week of school?"

"Ah, aside from being antisocial, Harry's just letting that flippant punk get to him again," Ron remarked sarcastically, poking his best friend a little.

"I know it's just he's so…so, well infuriating!" Harry exclaimed, frowning slightly, unable to process exactly WHY he was so mad at Malfoy. The frown turned into something of a pout, which caught the eye of Collin. He smiled softly at Harry's display at emotion before furrowing his brow at who Harry was obviously talking about.

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah-but I told him off though," with that Ron beamed a little, considering himself to be one up on Malfoy.

"Harry, he really isn't worth it. He's just upset that you are famous while he is only infamous. But if you ever do want to talk about it…" Collin extended his offer tentatively, knowing that Harry would never want to talk. Maybe that was his problem- he just kept it all bottled up inside. But Collin couldn't change that. He WAS Harry Potter.

"Well I've gotta go now. I heard the photography class is filling up fast this year. I don't know _what_ I would do if I wasn't in it," Collin said, knowing it would at least produce a smile from Ron. The red-haired youth laughed before he received a death glare and shut up. A groan came from Harry and Collin smiled broadly and patted him on the back before walking off towards his class.

Ron momentarily glanced after Collin before saying, "I don't think I'll ever figure that kid out."

Harry snorted before agreeing with his friend, "Neither do I, Ron." Collin had definitely confused him when he himself was a sixth year. It had been a rough year for all of them, and while each of them were undergoing different stresses and personal problems, Collin's had nearly destroyed the poor youth before fracturing the school community, causing one of the biggest scandals of the year.

During his fifth year there, Collin Creevy had been raped. And what caused the rift to deepen between the houses was that a Slytherin was to blame. The night of it, he had pulled together enough energy to come to come to Harry's room before passing out. His small body had been covered in blood stemming from random cuts. Harry had shouted at Ron to get help and in all of the commotion it wasn't long before the rest of the students found out. The students of Gryffindor had been outraged, and for weeks demanded that the boy to blame be expelled from Hogwarts.

The Slytherin house, always quick to protect its own, ignored threats and the like to divulge who was at fault. Collin, who had spent a week in the clinic, wasn't eager to lay blame either. He feared what the other Slytherins might do to him if he did. Eventually Hermione thought of asking the paintings, and always willing to spread gossip, they complied. Apparently, a group of Slytherins were ultimately to blame, and Dumbledore stripped them all of their status before expelling them. There were rumors that there was one rapist still on the loose, but the school breathed such an air of apprehension that suspicions were always bound to be whispered under the breath.

"Come on, Harry- I've got a whole box of Chocolate Frogs that we can down before class. Just hope you don't get too fat or you might just roll off your broom." Ron teased as he poked at Harry's stomach.

"Yeah Ron I'm sure you would love to see me as a god-awful rolli-pollie waddling around on a broom- but no such luck!" he chortled as he snatched the Chocolate Frogs out of Ron's hand, "Hogwart's best Quidditch player is here to stay- and win!" Harry began sprinting down the hall to class as Ron let out a, "Hey!!" and chased after him. It was just as well because the bell went off just as the busted into the classroom.

"Now if all my students could have this much gusto coming into class. How very nice it is to see you, again, Potter" Snape added with a flat note.

"Uh-oh," Harry whispered.

"Yeah, big mistake." Ron mirrored. It was the same as it always was since first year- they certainly didn't expect any special treatment coming into their senior year with the school's most dour and unmistakably harsh teacher.

"Uh-oh's and very big mistakes indeed, you two pitiful bumbling excuses for students. But, truths aside, I would like to begin my class. You may leave the Frogs up at my desk."

"Shit" Ron muttered as he half-heartedly kicked at his desk before setting his prized candy down on the Slytherin's desk. Turning, he "accidentally" kicked the weatherworn mahogany while the teacher's back was turned and sulked back to his desk. Huffing in defeat, Ron crumpled onto his desk- the same one for his career here at Hogwarts, and began picking at an already peeling surface.

"Proper posture is a key to knowledge, Weasely, and a classroom is for that. There will be no slumping while I am teaching, boy. Sit up." Snape commented off-handedly while shooting Ron a look that spoke of detention alphabetizing the recipes for his numerous potions- muggle style.

Ron glanced sideways at Harry and muttered, "I can't win today, can I?" Harry threw up his arms in mild protest- he knew Ron should be used to the drill by now. Exasperated, Ron noisily resigned himself to fumbling around in his leather bag until he pulled out a few monstrous volumes on potions and slapped them on his desk. They were mildly dilapidated, as if one of the gnomes in the Weasley's gardens had lacked a bit of fiber. Bemused, Harry grinned inwardly, surprised that Ron still had any of his school materials still in tact. Second hand items were one thing- in the hands of the teenage friend though a month old textbook could have been mistaken for an ancient wizarding tome.

As usual, Harry let the drone of Snape's voice drift off into the background while he let his mind wonder to more interesting subjects- in other words- the better things Hogwarts had to offer than grudge-wielding professors that acted as if they were a griffon with a wand shoved up their ass. His mind wandered to the upcoming Quidditch game momentarily until, after quickly scanning the classroom, he found something to immediately be thankful for-

"Hey Ron," Harry whispered excitedly, "I know there's at least one thing we don't have to worry about-" Harry playfully elbowed Ron in the arm, nodding towards a certain Slytherin's empty spot. Ron cheerfully lifted his flaming red mess of hair up from his arm and was about to break into a broad smile when it was halted- by the heavy oak door being slammed open, the small flames of the candles in the room hurriedly flickering back and forth, as if threatening to wink out. The intruder wore a smirk across his handsome face, blonde hair swept back behind his ears, with a small diamond adorning his left ear.

"Good day, Malfoy. I gather that your summer went well," Snape droned with only a hint of irritance at the edge of his voice. "But if you'll sit down now, I would like to begin class." /Without any more interruptions/ was heavily implied, but the potions teacher left the sarcasm and reprimands for some of his least favorite students.

With a curse and a groan from Ron and Harry kicking himself for the premature celebratory remark, the cocky Slytherin strutted across the room to his spot. The same spot as it had been for 6 previous years. /Of course he would be in our class. Why wouldn't he be?/ Harry noticed that the blonde had gained at least an inch taller over the summer, finally filling out his lanky frame that had once been lost in his robes. Harry had no doubt that the slight bulk of muscle he saw as Malfoy tossed his books onto his desk had only lended to the boy's ego. Everything with Draco was made into a bigger deal than it was. No doubt his father's ploy for dramatics- whether it be his taste in clothing or politics- reflected in his son's demeanor.

A sharp elbow struck his side, "I know you hate the kid, Harry, but staring him down isn't going to burn a hole through him. Unfortunately" the red head quipped.

Harry fumbled for words but ended up settling with "Yeah."

"Don't worry Harry- I know the bastard gets on your nerves, but we're not taking any bullshit this year. He'll see." Ron was obviously disappointed that the blonde was in their class again, but he still had a mischievous grin on his face. Harry had to smile despite himself. The Slytherin threw a look over his shoulder and Harry felt his heart skip a beat- and then shook it off. /Of course Malfoy knows we're talking about him- but it didn't help for him to see me looking at him. Malfoy enjoyed getting under his skin. It's what Malfoys did best./

However caught up in his thoughts though, the class had moved on. Confident in the fact that the students unanimously feared him and settled back behind his massive desk littered with mysterious bottles, Snape had barely gotten the words out, "Can anyone tell me…" when the door slammed open again. A furious wind accompanied the thunderous cracking of the door against the wall. Angered by once again being interrupted, Snape glared towards the intrusion to find no one and nothing there. However, the class began looking around anxiously when sounds of commotion began outside the door.

A sharp scream punctuated the uneasy silence that had engulfed the room. Terror stricken, the students hopped up from their seat like rockets and shot out the door.

Harry looked nervously at Ron who looked nervously back. For all they knew, dementors _were_ attacking the school again. Ron nodded his head meekly in the direction of the noise. Without needing to be told twice, both boys hopped out of the seats and flew to the door too. A massive crowd had gathered in front of the balcony of their second story classroom. Pushing their way to the front, Harry saw what had invoked the pandemonium outside of their classroom. He immediately regretted it. No matter how tightly he shut his eyes to block the image from being imprinted on his mind, the hushed whispers from the students around him let him know it was still there.

Two stories below, sprawled on the marble steps of the great wizarding school of Hogwarts, a young girl lay dead.


End file.
